


Every Goodbye and Hello

by sarcastic_fi



Series: Every Ending Is A Begining [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: All Steve's Friends are Dead, Alpha Tony Stark, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Arranged Marriage, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Manipulation, Omega Steve Rogers, Pre-Iron Man 1, Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2015-05-09
Packaged: 2018-03-29 18:19:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3906088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcastic_fi/pseuds/sarcastic_fi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Howard dies leaving emotional scars on son Tony Stark and close friend Captain America. He also leaves a Will, the clauses of which force Tony and Steve to consider a marriage that neither had ever envisioned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Every Goodbye and Hello

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place in 2005, pre-Iron Man 1. 
> 
> This works more as a character study developing Steve and Tony's mindsets for the coming stories, including one already posted (see the series link above).

The last words that Tony Stark's father ever speaks to him are carefully scripted and three months before the official TOD. After that access to Howard Stark is severely restricted and Tony finds there are numerous doctors and lawyers standing in his way every time he even steps in the direction of his father's wing. Honestly, he doesn't fight them too hard, unsure if he is trying to punish a dying man for failing to be the father Tony needed, or just himself for failing to be the son that Howard Stark could have wanted. It isn't until Pepper is standing next to him telling him that she is so, so sorry that the words hit him like a punch. Those had been his father's last words to him.

For a few hours time stops, but it's soon catapulted into motion by funeral arrangements, press conferences and board meetings that have to be attended. Pepper finds herself with an unprecedented promotion from Howard's PA to CEO of Stark Industries. She tells him no at first, afraid his decision making skills have been compromised by grief, but once the paperwork is finalised she quickly takes to reminding him that he can't take it back. Tony doesn't want it; not the responsibility or the accountability of the role. Stark industries is undeniably Howard's legacy to his son – to the world – and Tony respects that enough to want to protect it, and occasionally Tony is self-aware enough to recognise that means protecting it from himself as well.

The emotion predominant in Tony's mind isn't grief. It's sharper than that, tastes like the metallic element of blood and smells like the urine soaked sheets the morning after a binge of alcohol, cocaine and attractive-but-paid-for company. He hates what is happening with a fierceness that frankly shocks him; he hadn't been sure that he was even capable of feeling such strong emotions for the father who had spent thirty plus years ignoring his son's existence, only to spend what Tony could only assume were his last coherent moments reminding him that everything he was, all that he had, was because of Howard. Thanks, dad, Tony thinks bitterly as Howard Stark's body is lowered into the ground with even more pomp and ceremony that money can buy. After all, Howard hadn't only been rich, he had also commanded the respect of the public and the business world as well as being a founding father of SHEILD, and of course the last surviving 'best friend' of Captain freaking America. It seems from the speeches and tears that Tony is the only one who won't miss Howard. The idea of being orphaned has long since haunted Tony, especially after losing his mother when he was only nineteen, but then he realises he's been alone ever since his nanny was fired when he was fourteen. That thought inspires the creation of JARVIS. Now Tony has a guarantee that there is at least one person – thing, really – that won't abandon him. It's not a lot of comfort, but Tony is an expert at hiding behind a charming smile and a cloud of alcohol so no one sees the need for a hand to hold or share their sympathy. Not that Tony wants their sympathy that his father died, he wants it because Howard hadn't been the type of hero they envisioned him as, at least not to Tony.

It's after the second successful trial of JARVIS's programming that Pepper finally interrupts him long enough to tell him that the reading of his father's Will is in two days. She delivers the news along side a pastrami sandwich, which is the only reason he had let her in to the lab in the first place. It's a good thing he did, however, when it turns out there is more to it than a simple calender update. It seems his dad is determined to run Tony's life even though his own was over. Howard had left a stimulation in his Will that denied Tony his controlling share in Stark Industries unless he married Steve Rogers. After that piece of news Tony decides to add a sense of humour to JARVIS's system. Someone around here was going to need one.

~/~

The first words Howard Stark ever spoke to Steve, other than the mandatory introductions, were ones of comfort and hope, and Steve tried to hold on to those words with a desperation akin to a death grip as his last surviving friend slipped away. While technically Peggy lived on, trapped in her own body as Alzheimer ravaged what was left of her mind, ishe could hardly be called a friend since they hadn't been close in a long time. It wasn't 'done', Howard had reminded Steve with a firm hand grasping his shoulder for comfort, for an Alpha to spend so much time with an unattached Omega. He knew the history that Steve and Peggy shared, the almost happy ending that had been ruined by the one thing that had brought them together. The serum that allowed Steve to more than serve his country had frozen his body in that point of time, doomed to be twenty-four years old forever. It would have been cruel for Steve to deny Peggy a chance at a family, at growing old with the person she loved. She had had that, Howard had had that, and all Steve was left with was the memories and pain of their loss. He was so wrapped up in that grief and all of its connotations that at first the words didn't register.

“Sorry?” He sent Agent Coulson a confused look.

“We didn't know about it,” Coulson assured him, and Steve believed him despite the fact he knew that Coulson was a consummate liar and even if he wasn't being honest Steve would have no way of telling. Coulson was perhaps the one person in all of SHEILD who had still commanded Howard's unadulterated trust. After the incident with his business partner Obidiah Stane, Howard had been very closed off and secretive. Coulson and Steve had been two of the few people left in Howard's confidences, not even Director Fury had made the cut for that shortlist although Steve didn't think that was about trust as much as it was about respect for each other. If a man doesn't know a secret then he cannot be forced to divulge said secret. “If it's any consolation he meant well. He had your best interests in mind, Captain, and he wanted to ensure that you'd be taken care of... afterwards.”

“By Tony?”

Coulson shrugged, his expression notably absent from his pale face. “If you reject the proposal, or Stark does himself, then your guardianship collar falls to SHIELD.” 

It could mean anything, or nothing, that Coulson chose to give him that information. Steve chose to take it as a warning. One prison or another. Steve lived to serve his country, quite literally, but after sixty years of service without an end in sight, toeing the company line was sometimes the hardest thing to do. He stared at the portrait of Howard Stark in his prime as he had been when he had founded this place and tried to imagine what he had been thinking when he decided on this course of action. Quickly his thinking became clouded with guilt, regret and grief. He wasn't in any state of mind to be making hard decisions right now.

“I can't make that kind of decision right now,” Steve said. His emotions compromised him, it would be a tactical error to give an answer right now.

“SHIELD will want an answer in the morning.”

The words were delivered lightly but for a second Steve thought he saw the Agent-mask flicker and real emotion flash across Coulson's face. Grief for a long friend, someone Coulson had looked up too for as long as he had been working with SHIELD, and also something not quiet pity but near enough to make Steve feel hot and uncomfortable. “Howard thought it was a good idea?” Steve asked, doubt and scepticisms creeping into his tone.

“He was your friend, Captain, you tell me.”

Steve took a breath so deep that it hurt almost as much as the sight of the gravestone with Howard's name and a date etched into its stone surface. The world around him was stunningly bright and beautifully alive and Steve didn't feel any part of it. It wasn't all about Howard;s demise. The big picture was that as much as America might love to bring him out and put him on display to remind the people what a hero looked like, Steve spent most of his time in the shadows on classified missions that he was never allowed to talk about with anyone. It made embracing life almost impossible. A ridiculous thought; Steve had been alive for ninety years but he had hardly done any living at all, and he knew that if he let SHIELD have his collar then he'd never escape the constant need for subterfuge and masks. 

“I'll consider it. If Stark is agreeable, then... I'll consider it.”

Coulson nodded, satisfied enough with the answer the he seemed to have no more use for words to nudge Steve into the 'correct' direction. Steve wanted to be annoyed at the subtle manipulation, but had to concede that it hadn't been malicious or heavy handed. Coulson had simply outlined his options, in the end it was Steve's life and he had to make the choice. A marriage or a something that was starting to feel more like enslavement than a career. One of those options was the promise of something more, something worth fight for perhaps. It might just be enough to live for, and maybe that was all Howard wanted for him. It was certainly all Steve had wanted for Howard.


End file.
